IANS | 02 Dec, 2020
Japan enacted a law on Wednesday to cover the costs of vaccination against Covid-19 for residents of the country.
Amid
rising hopes for the early arrival of vaccines following recent
progress and a resurgence of infections in Japan, the country's House of
Councilors unanimously passed a bill to revise the current vaccination
law, Xinhua reported.
The revision came as Japanese Prime
Minister Yoshihide Suga has vowed to secure Covid-19 vaccines for all
the residents in Japan in the first half of next year.
Japan has
made deals with US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc., US firm Moderna
Inc. and Britain's AstraZeneca Plc to acquire sufficient vaccines for
145 million people following successful development.
The
government has set aside a budget of 671.4 billion yen (6.4 billion US
dollars) for the particular purpose, according to local media.
The revised bill does not clarify whether the law will allow foreign residents in Japan to get free vaccination.
Although
the law strongly suggests people to be inoculated, the government will
allow individuals to refuse if the vaccines have not been proved
sufficiently safe by the time of approval.